Here By Me
by Wildflame
Summary: Sequel to Kryptonite. After rejection, Amy still struggles to heal from the past. While all the while Tails is trying to figure out where his own interest lies. While their lives get turned topsy turvy, will Sonic and Shadow be able to keep them from b
1. Four on the Floor

**Here By Me**

_Chapter 1  
_Four on the Floor

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Shadow or any of these characters. Duh, don't be stupid.

Warning: YEAH. THIS IS YAOI. Ok, if you don't like that. You can just leave. Now. Because I seriously didn't write this for you. And I don't need you telling me that it's gross, ok? Because you tell me it's gross, I tell you I don't care. It's like a system. I wouldn't be writing it if I thought it was gross. So, yeah... keep your negative opinions to yourself. Well unless it's constructive criticism, that's okay. Just nothing about the gayness. Yeah, don't care.

* * *

The cream colored fox burst through the doors of Amy's house, the pink hedgehog turned startled to see Tails so out of breath. "Amy! Your purse." They had just gotten back from shopping, well Amy had. Tails had accompanied her, he had gone a lot of places with her recently since Sonic and Shadow's recent developments. She took a deep breath, smiled and grabbed her bag.

"You didn't have to run...but thanks!" Tails smiled, then nodded st ill bent over trying to catch his breath. Amy brought her fingers up to his cow-lick he had on the top of his head and pushed it back. Tails just grinned, "Now that you're here...do you have any idea where Sonic is?" Tails almost deflated, the smile vanished from his face. He shook his head.

"With Shadow obviously." His voice was sharp, almost cold, as he looked away. He had at least expected her to invite him to stay awhile. He was beginning to think Amy was never going to forget Sonic. She claimed to have forgotten him the moment he admitted to having a thing for Shadow. _'He likes another guy and she still likes him more than me!' _Truth be known, lately Tails had experienced some real feelings for the pink hedgehog.

"You ok?" Her soft voice cut his thoughts like a knife, it was so gentle yet it shattered his concentration so easily. He turned his head to face her again still reeling from the rejection of being asked where Sonic was, again. He simply nodded his head not seeing any reason to open his mouth again. He spun on his heels and started towards the door. "Tails!" He turned his head back at the voice, what could it possibly be now? "You wanna stay for a little bit? I could make us some tea or something." His smile spread back across his face.

"That'd be great, Amy!" A knock at the door put his happiness on hold temporarily. The female furry made her way to the door and opened it, not even notifying Tails that she was going to get it, which normally wouldn't have mattered but seeing how sensitive he had been around her lately. He stared at the back of her, '_She's beautiful.'_ He felt his cheeks get red. He lifted his head from her to see who was at the door.

"I think you still have my shoes, Amy..." His self confidence slammed into the ground like a ton of bricks. Sonic.

"No, I don't, Sonic... I gave them to Shadow, he said he'd give them to you." Tails watched silently as the two conversed, being completely unnoticed as always. The fox glanced down to notice Sonic wasn't wearing his usual red shoes, they were black. He liked them, but it wasn't like Sonic cared what he thought. He mentally kicked himself for thinking like that, Sonic was his idol, his hero, and here he was getting all swelled up at him for nothing just over some silly girl. It just wasn't fair though, Sonic had Shadow, he didn't need Amy anymore, why did she torture herself and him by clinging?

Sonic stepped back and groaned, exasperated. "Are you serious! I swear he's such an idiot sometimes, he lives with me and he can't remember to tell me he brought my shoes home." Amy giggled at Sonic's semi-rant to himself.

"I didn't forget I just like to make you run around and get all sweaty!" A green flash signaled the entrance of another hedgehog. Sonic's mate, Shadow, he had his trademark smirk on his face. The blue hedgehog whirled around at the sound reaching his ears, which perked up slightly at the sound of the oh-so-familiar voice.

"You jerk..." Sonic rolled his eyes but he had a smile on his face now. Sonic always got different around Shadow now. It was like he got more vulnerable, cuter, for lack of a better word. Tails caught himself in mid thought and physically hit his palm to his head, the last thing he needed was to get attracted to _Sonic._

"I know." The smirk never left him. Amy smiled at both of them, then sighed, knowing that they were going to leave now that the issue had been resolved but she was determined to keep them around as long as possible.

"You stupid hedgehogs want anything to eat or drink?" Sonic turned back again to face her, his back to Shadow now. Shadow's smirk seemed to turned to a grin seeing this. Tails didn't know which was more obvious, Amy's attraction to Sonic, Sonic's to Shadow, Shadow's to Sonic, or his to Amy, all he knew was that it was heartbreaking sometimes.

Shadow put his arms around Sonic's waist almost immediately after the blue hedgehog turned around, Sonic gave him a smile, then seemed to ignore it and shook his head at Amy. "Stupid hedgehogs...that's not how you get company, you know? But no. I'm fine. I'm getting restless I need to run around a little."

Shadow kept his arms around Sonic but raised his eyebrow as he tilted his head to look at the green-eyed hedgehog, "You've been running around all morning, Faker." Sonic grinned.

"I know." Sonic slowly eased out of Shadow's grip, stole a kiss from him and ran off, daring Shadow to catch him, who immediately smiled and took off after him.

Amy sighed and turned back to Tails, "You certainly are quiet around those two lately." Tails nodded his head, it was them. They had no idea he was alive, he guessed then ever really had but it hadn't bothered him until he started getting all these crazy emotions where everything meant something. The fox felt like he was falling in love with Amy, but at the same time, there was a jealousy when he saw Shadow and Sonic together. He certainly could not be gay, but being around Sonic and him being as much, it was hard to deny that Tails might be feeling a little feelings towards males as well. Sonic was like a big brother to him after all.

"I just have a lot on my mind... and those two can break anyone's concentration." He smiled at her and she twirled her hair. "How about those drinks?" Tails still wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to spend time with her. She was amazing in every way, before she meant nothing but ever since the Sonic and Shadow incident a few months back, she just seemed breath-taking.

"I guess you're right about that." He saw her sigh a bit of a melancholy sigh, which was never could to see on such a beautiful face. Her smile returned quickly though, as if she realized something that brought a light back. "Alright! I'll get the drinks, then!" She shut the door of her house and walked back into the kitchen, leaving Tails alone in the living room.

He made his way over to the couch and sat down, he let his mind wander until his eyes caught a picture of Amy and Rouge on a nearby desk. They were in a really goofy pose and something about it just brought a smile to his face once more. He didn't get up and go over to the picture, it was just a piece of paper, nothing important, yet it held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity. Until the picture seemed to come to life as Amy's voice rang out across the room, "Okay, they're ready!" He was quickly brought back from his daydream.

"Okay! Great!" She came over and sat the two drinks on the table and took a seat next to him on the couch. After drinking for a few moments in silence, he said the only thing he could think of, "Does it still bother you to see Sonic and Shadow together like that?"

Amy said nothing for a few moments, her green eyes stared down into her glass, he saw her bite her lip. "Well," she started, "I guess so...I still love Sonic. I know he loves Shadow, and it's always going to be that way, but I'm just not sure I can let him go." It felt like she stabbed a knife into poor Tails' heart. He just smiled at her though.

"I'm sure you can do it, Amy... you're a beautiful girl, there are lots of other guys out there just waiting for you to notice them." He poured out his feelings to her, if vaguely and in a way she'd never see it. She did embrace him though, the smile widening on her face.

"Thanks, Tails! You're awesome, you always know the right things to say." She let him go and looked over to the door and started again, "Sonic is really amazing, I always thought he was all I could ever want... but seeing him with Shadow, and how happy he is, I'd never want to take that away from him." She took a quick breath, "But it just hurts."

Tails nodded his head, "I know what you mean, but I know you can get over it, it'll just take time and maybe a knight in shining armor!" She giggled and rolled her eyes at him though, not taking him seriously and not seeing the hopeful look behind his blue eyes.

"Yeah, where am I gonna find one of those?"

---

The echidna worked to polish the master emerald, but even he was getting a little bored, sitting on Angel Island. Rouge sat on a step in the background watching him intently. "Don't you ever get bored, Knucklehead?"

He growled and turned to her in a fuming fashion, "This is my duty, Rouge, of course I don't ever get bored." He lied, he knew she'd see it to because she always saw through his lies, even one as petty as the one he just told.

"Right...of course you don't." She smirked and stood up, then gestured for him to come over there. He reluctantly did so, glancing back at the Master Emerald. He stopped and looked her up and down.

"Fine then, bat woman...what do you propose we do?" He crossed his arms over his chest and raised and eyes ridge at her. She simply smirked in return and brought her left hand up to her chin as if she was pondering that last sentence. Knuckles knew that look, that was the mocking look.

Finally she stopped and grabbed him by the wrist, "I dunno! Let's just go into to town and maybe we'll stop by Amy's. If you're lucky, Cream might be there." She took off, Rouge had been practicing and was now able to lift Knuckles and carry him a ways with relative ease.

"I think I just threw up a little."

---

"Amy!" Cream shrieked across her entire house, the pink hedgehog was quite surprised no mirrors shattered. Sometimes she swore she needed a knock first sign on her door, the only people who ever knocked were Sonic and Shadow and those were the two she wanted there most of the times. Well, Tails knocked too. But Cream certainly never did.

She made her way out of her room to greet the cream colored rabbit and her oh-so-annoying chao. Amy managed the biggest fake smile she could, "Cream! What a pleasant surprise!" Cream grinned widely, and nodded her ears. She pranced over to Amy and began talking ninety miles an hour about random things in her life. Amy basically tuned her out and let her mind wander. Her mind was stuck on Sonic as usual, she had told herself she would stop, she would find someone else for her. But it just hadn't worked that way.

"So... what have you been up to anyway?" This sentence brought her back to reality because it was something she had to respond to. She thought for a moment on what to say, opened her mouth a few times and decided against it, then finally figured something out.

"Just trying to figure out my life, that's all." Cream got wide-eyed and interested at this, normally Amy just said nothing but today she was actually pretending Cream was someone who could help her out.

"Trying to figure your life out?" Cream simply tilted her head to one side and Amy glanced quietly at her, then nodded her head. "Are you thinking about Sonic again?" Cream wasn't all that dumb, everyone knew Amy was still in love with Sonic. Most everyone thought she'd never get over it, Cream was one of those people.

"Yes." She answered bluntly, it wasn't like Cream didn't know the answer anyway. "He came by earlier, but he was just getting his shoes... that weren't even here." Amy quickly rolled her eyes, "I was just happy I got to see him, seems like if I'm not in life threatening danger I'm not worth talking to." The small hedgehog growled under her breath.

"Amy... you know that isn't true at all, Sonic cares about you a lot!" Amy's green eyes pierced into Cream like knives into her skin. The look almost sent chills down the bunny's spine, she shifted slightly where she was. Amy had gotten slightly mean lately when Sonic was the topic at hand.

"Does he now? He certainly doesn't act like it... he cares that I don't die. That's about the sum of it!" Amy was almost yelling at this point, and the small chao Cream had with her was hiding behind an object, namely a lamp, at the far corner of the room. The small creature officially wanted to resort back to her role of not being important enough to disclose information to.

"Uh, I'm sorry, Amy... I can't read Sonic's mind for you." Amy took a deep breath realizing how freaked out Cream had become.

"No one can. It's fine. Look, I really would rather be alone right now if you don't mind." Cream nodded her head, for once in her life she was quite relieved to comply with someone's go away request. She ran for the door, grabbed her chao and exited with all speed.

"Yeah, bye Amy, hope you feel better!" Amy heard this after Cream was almost out of her hearing range.

"Shadow, Knuckles and Sonic would certainly be proud of me..." She smiled weakly after a moment and shook her head, kicking herself for being so rude to Cream when she hadn't done the slightest thing, except of course barging into her home uninvited, but that was pretty much the normal for that rabbit and chao.

Before she had a chance to beat herself up anymore, she heard another knock at the door. Amy almost screamed right there for them to get out but caught herself, she had been such a basket case lately, her behavior had been nothing but rude. The green-eyed female made her way to the door and opened it for the millionth time that day, surprisingly it was Tails again. Tails had been around a lot lately. "Hey, Amy... sorry but I'm back. I saw Cream running from the house, is everything ok?"

"Yes, it's fine." She decided to go back to small amounts of syllables, since the larger sentences lately seemed to scare people away. She was touched by the fox's concern though, he seemed to be the only one lately who cared at all. "Thanks for asking, though."

Tails sighed, he knew she was lying but he couldn't very well pry into it without getting hated if she was upset. Sometimes he wished Sonic didn't exist, then he hated himself for even thinking that. Finally, he decided to pry. "Is it Sonic again?"

Amy looked away without saying anything for at least a solid minute or two. Of course it was Sonic again, why did people have to ask? Excuse her for not getting elated about being completely and utterly rejected, over Shadow. "Look, Tails... I don't wanna talk about it. I'd just end up getting mad at you and you didn't do anything."

The two-tailed fox was really beginning to think this was a hopeless romance. Amy cared nothing for him in that way, sometimes he wondered if she saw him any differently than she saw Cream, and that was an all-time low. "Well, I'll listen, I'm better at being yelled at than Cream is."

"No, it's really fine." Amy didn't want to take the risk of getting absolutely everybody in the world mad at her. Especially since Tails had been the only one there for her lately, you would think she might want to tell him everything but she was too worried about losing a friend because of a failed love interest.

Tails took a breath, "Amy, I'm worried about you." He stepped back, he had to get that off his chest, if she didn't talk to him now. He wasn't going to be able to sleep. Tails cared deeply for Amy, ever since everything that had happened she meant so much to him. It was something he didn't think Amy was ever going to understand.

"I'm sorry, Tails... look, it's like I've said before, I-" She was interrupted by the door swinging open to reveal Rouge and Knuckles, obviously flinching as if expecting to be attacked by Cream, relieved when that didn't happen.

'I'm never going to get anywhere when people keep barging in like this! How does she live with all these people coming in? And why does everyone have to come to her house?' He simply smiled and put on a cheerful face and waved to the bothersome duo. "Knuckles! Rouge! What are you two doing here?" He decided that if Amy was ever going to open up to him, he had to stop acting so weird around everyone like he had been as of late.

"Yes, what?" The small voice from behind him came, his hopes rose momentarily as she seemed a little angry with their visit as well. Maybe she did want to spend time with just him. Then he deflated after thinking that she had been having a bad day and was probably just annoyed with all the company that kept coming in.

"She doesn't know." Knuckles might have been more annoyed than Amy and Tails combined, he didn't want to waste him time. He wanted to either be protecting the master emerald or at least be spending some alone time with Rouge. Not that the latter came before protecting the Master Emerald or anything.

"I do know! You are boring sitting there staring blankly at that dumb green emerald-..."

"Master Emerald, Rouge!" He rose his voice at the bat, then crossed his arms and glanced away angrily. She just giggled at him.

"Whatever, it gets old. That's all you ever do." Finally Rouge put a cross look on her face and looked at the away-glancing echidna. She just sighed and turned back to Amy and Tails, smiling, "Anyway, you two look a little worn out, we can leave if need be." Amy was quick to shake her head to this. "Are you sure?" They both nodded in unison, Tails knew he had no say so but it might make Rouge feel a little more at ease if he were to show he was happy to see them too. He didn't know how that bat always managed to see straight through people though, it was mind boggling.

"That is not all I ever do, Rouge!" Rouge simply ignored the echidna and thanked Amy and Tails for not kicking them out. She figured they both wanted to, but she wasn't about to capitalize on it anymore, because they certainly weren't going to admit it. "And, even if it was, which it is NOT, it would make sense, since that is my job!" She continued to ignore him, his face got red with anger.

Tails laughed at him, "Poor Knuckles, it's ok." He walked over to the two, leaving Amy to sit there and think whatever it was she seemed to be thinking, something to do with Sonic he was sure. "So, we haven't talked to you two in awhile, anything of interest going on?"

"Of course not." Rouge said rather bluntly, "Like I said, all he ever does is stare at that emerald." Tails decided to back off and let Knuckles defend himself, because even if he did start a sentence, the red echidna was sure to interrupt.

"And if I didn't, someone would try to take it! Then something would happen, why don't you take your own advice and stop wishing for something horrible to happen to us?" She simply rolled her eyes, but smiled just a little to think he remembered that she had said that.

"Maybe you're right, but stop talking, I'm serious, Knuckles, you talk way too much." This just put a really sour look on his face.

Amy giggled from across the room at the bickering couple, "You two are sounding more like Sonic and Shadow every day." Knuckles almost perked up at this, or the annoyed expression at least left his face for once.

"Speaking of those two, where are they? I haven't seen them in awhile." Amy smiled, even though it was hard for her to think about, she always loved the topic of Sonic. For some reason, it made no sense when the thought caused her so much pain.

"They were here earlier, looking for something Shadow already had. Why didn't you go visit them if you're so eager to hear about them, then Knuckles, hm?" Knuckles crossed his arms, and was about to say good point, when Rouge interrupted him.

"Because, guys are boring. I'm sick of them. No offense, Tails, but I needed to see a girl." She smiled at Amy, who gave her an understanding nod. But Knuckles exasperated look returned to his neutral face.

"Why does it always have to be what you want? I happened to want to see a guy!" She smirked.

Tails waved his arms in his face, "Hello, I am a guy." Knuckles looked like he was about to say something, then seemed to think better of it and looked down at the floor thinking of something that would be better than the thought he had nixed.

"Well, it was still about what she wanted, we didn't know you would be here! Cream might have even been here! That would be like hell!" Tails laughed but Rouge held up her finger to him and shook it.

"See? But it worked out, no Cream and you even got to see a guy, you should be more grateful, Knucklehead." Knuckles stood back and looked like he was about to yell something but went over and sat on the couch, intending to ignore Rouge for the remainder of their time at Amy's house. He sort of sunk into the couch, and his purple eyes looked a little worried about the sinking, but then realized what it was. Rouge simply smiled across the room at him.

He pretended not to notice and began to take unnatural interest in a picture of Amy on the wall, "So, honestly... do you go outside and find people, Amy, and say... here will you take my picture?" Knuckles glanced at her and saw that he had gotten a smile out of her, "I've never met you before in my life! But take my picture!"

She giggled a little bit and rolled her eyes, "No, different people take those... I think Cream took that one."

The echidna jerked his head from the image, "Take it off the wall! What are you thinking, Amy? Seriously! I thought Sonic would've taken it or something, man." The female hedgehog simply flipped her hair and ignored the comment. She suddenly felt the returning mass of sadness when silence ensued in the room again, Rouge seemed off in thought, as did Tails, and Knuckles just seemed to be appalled at the picture on her wall, or the photographer of it.

Tails noticed the silence, he hated it, because it seemed to be bothering Amy as much as himself, "So Sonic and Shadow are off alone somewhere that means?" A smirk crossed the red echidna's face as the fox finished, Knuckles had thought of it very strange for awhile, but now it didn't seem to phase him at all, it was almost like it fit, but not quite. Like an acquired taste or something, not that he would ever consider another guy, but still, Shadow and Sonic seemed to fit together.

Rouge noticed the smirk on his face, and though she got one of her own, she quickly scolded him for it, "Oh, be quiet, Knuckles. That's not like Sonic and Shadow at all!" She knew exactly what his comeback was about to be, but she decided to be nice and let him say it.

"Oh, no, not at all. They're bad in front of people, just imagine when they're _alone!_" Rouge laughed a little bit at this.

"Knuckles..."

"They can't keep their hands off each other, Rouge. You've seen that. I know you have, you've commented on how hot it is several times..." He got a bit of a cross look on his face after he said this, but then he sighed, it wasn't like they were competition, but she was something of what he'd like to call his girlfriend and it was a little annoying when she had two male hedgehogs, who's looks she seemed to be absolutely infatuated with.

"Oh, I know..." Rouge chuckled slightly. Amy looked at the floor, she wanted to manage to keep Knuckles and Rouge's lightheartedness about it. Sonic was happy and that was all that was supposed to matter. She loved Sonic, so she was supposed to put his happiness first, but hers seemed to be getting more and more neglected lately.

Tails watched the pink hedgehog fidget with her red dress, her fingers twisting and turning it in all kinds of unnatural ways, "Well, I've been trying to figure out a way to make the Tornado less prone to crashing... it's not going very well, but then again, it never does." He managed a half-hearted smile, that was his best attempt at a subject change. Obvious and a bit stupid but at least he had tried.

Rouge smiled sweetly at him, letting him know he had done a nice thing by considering Amy, so said nothing to prove how pathetic the attempt was, "Oh, really? Haven't you been trying to make it less prone to crashing since you made it?" Well, maybe she called him on it a little bit.

Tails chuckled slightly and couldn't help himself as he glanced over to Amy, who shot him a heart-warming smile, also thinking it was amazingly considerate of Tails to even notice how she had disliked that topic, "Tails, I don't think you can ever keep it from crashing, that's what makes it the Tornado!" She winked at him.

"Maybe." He simply laughed.

---

Sonic slowly sat down his back to a tree, he looked up at Shadow, his breaths were fast and deep. "That was fun." He managed this in between pants. Shadow was breathing just as hard, so he simply nodded his head. The black hedgehog had his hands on his knees, their racing escapades often ended up with them breathing hard. Probably not as hard as something else Shadow could think of though.

He smirked finally and stood upright, offering Sonic a hand, his breathing had slowed. "Ready to call it a day, Faker?" Sonic took the help and got to his feet as well, he thought for a moment, Sonic sometimes picked the stupidest times to not call it a day. He had to be the most hyper individual Shadow had ever run across, and the cutest, but that was another story entirely.

Sonic's green eyes glanced up at the purple-orange sky, "Well, it's sunset, so yeah, we might as well." Shadow smiled a little relieved, if he had run another step, he may had collapsed.

Sonic got within a centimeter of him and smiled, "So what now?" Shadow didn't bother answering and kissed his green-eyed mate, getting the most enjoyment this day had brung thus far. He backed away and grinned at Sonic, who laughed a little.

"You know, Sonic, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you did that on purpose." His grin turned to a smirk immediately, and Sonic's smile stayed put on his face. The blue hedgehog quickly crossed his arms and thought for a moment.

"No, Shadow, not me."

"Ha...you loser." Shadow quickly turned his head up towards the sky, he loved watching the sunset. He tended to zone out a lot when they were outside and the sun was setting, or he would even stare at the stars sometimes. Sonic made fun of him for it when he knew he could, now seemed like one of those times, but he was a little too tired.

Sonic sat back down and picked out a specific blade of grass and started fiddling with it, the blue hedgehog was absolutely horrible about sitting still. Something on him had to be moving at all times, "One day, you're gonna be looking up there like that and something's gonna fall out of no where and hit you square in the face." It seemed like such an idle comment, as he hadn't even looked up at the darker hedgehog to say it. It was as if he was conversing with his new green friend.

He pulled Shadow out of the zone he was in and he smiled at Sonic, who seemed busied with the grass, "Well, if you keep making friends with grass... someone's going to think you're really weird. As in, someone other than me."

"Hm, well considering how that turned out, you better hope I stop or you're going to have some competition." He threw the grass blade behind him and the wind caught it and carried it off into the distance a little ways. He stood back up, he really didn't know why he sat back down, he guessed he was a bit tired after all the running.

"I'm the ultimate life form, Faker, there is no competition. Especially in your department." His smug smirk put a grin on Sonic's face, even though he rolled his eyes at the sheer cockiness of his red-eyed mate. "I talked to Rouge the other day." Sonic looked at him pointedly, it wasn't like Shadow to say offhand things like informing Sonic whom he had talked to.

"Is that relevant?" Sonic immediately called him on it, but Shadow had quite obviously expected that response.

It was Shadow's turn to fidget as he played with his hands a little bit, he seemed to be thinking how to phrase the next sentence, or like it was an awkward one to say, "Sort of. She was talking about Tails and Amy." This seem to raise Sonic's interest a bit, it was still unlike Shadow to take any of this into account, normally the things Rouge said to the black hedgehog went in one ear and out the other. Considering this had to do with Sonic, though, indirectly at least, he had decided to tune in.

"Really?" Sonic sounded intrigued enough, "What about them?"

His red eyes drifted up to watch a leave fall out of a tree and he followed its graceful and slow decent to the ground, when it touched the earth, he began to talk, "Them. As in, romantic-wise."

Sonic's ears twitched a little bit and it was his turn to ponder on the subject, he knew that's what Shadow had meant, he had never considered Tails and Amy before, but now that he thought about it, if Amy hadn't been so obsessed with him, that would've been great! "Wow, that's actually a good little match-up. I'll have to Rouge congratulations on getting something right."

Shadow grinned slightly after this comment and grabbed his mate's hand and in a way rubbed it, in a way just played with it, "That's not the only couple she's gotten right." Sonic seemed to agree well enough with this. He smiled at Shadow, a genuine smile, finally.

"Eh, maybe she's a _little _better than I give her credit for." He stole his hand back from Shadow, and another soft peck on the lips. As he walked by him, motioning they probably needed to start heading home. "So what do you think? Think that could work."

Shadow nodded his head, in between a little unsure shifting to the left and right, as he began walking in Sonic's direction, "I think it could work. But Amy's still crazy about you, of course, who can blame her?" He smirked and Sonic just laughed, a flush of red coming over his cheeks, Shadow loved the fact that he could still make the blue hedgehog blush. It was adorable.

---

Vector pounded the communicator into the control panel, Espio was confident he had broken absolutely everything on the space colony, and if he hadn't broken it, he had eaten it. At one point, he seriously thought the gator had eaten Charmy. "Dang thing... it's never gonna work."

Espio gave him a pointed glance, that of course he blew off, "If you'd quit slamming it into stuff, you might have a better chance of it working."

"Ya think?"

"I tried to kill myself again today."

"Oh... all right, then." Espio sighed, he had tried many times to do this, but the fates were obviously against him.

---

Eggman stormed around his base, trying desperately to figure out some amazing plan that wouldn't be foiled by Sonic and his group of friends, which was now large enough for a pickup game of basketball. It seemed like lately every time he hatched a new scheme, Sonic made another friend. It was frightening. "Everything I think of is so cliche. But maybe I need to try cliche. It's never worked for me before, but then nothing ever has. There's a first time for everything. Why am I talking to myself?"

A chao floated up to him and smiled, it was one of the toothy ones, that looked like if they bit you they'd take a nice big chunk out of you.

"Wait... maybe if I tried something so utterly cliche they wouldn't even expect it of me! Ah-ha! It's absolutely full-proof, flawless, unstoppa-..."

"Failure." The chao repeated just as happy as anything could ever sound. Eggman looked at it pointedly.

"You're just a stupid chao, what would you know?"

"Failure."

He growled beneath his breath and stormed off, not even minding that the failure-predicting chao was following him. Obviously feeling like it had found a good owner, and if all it could say was failure, Eggman was definitely the one.


	2. Do You Feel Like a Man?

**Four on the Floor  
****Do You Feel Like a Man?**

_Disclaimer: You know the drill, I own nothing._

* * *

"Sonic!" She squealed at the nonchalant, green-eyed hedgehog's presence in her doorway. Shadow sighed in relief, another moment with Rouge's talking about her insane roller-coaster romance without his other half may have resulted in homicide. Sonic's expression showed that he was about as interested in this meeting as Shadow was. His green eyes lit up a little when he saw his mate already sitting quietly on the couch, but said nothing.

"So we've decided, or I have, Shadow didn't give me much input... that you should definitely talk to Tails about Amy!" Sonic cocked an eye ridge, then looked over to Shadow, who mouthed the words, I never said anything. Sonic's eyelids came down over his eyes, the way someone does when he or she is insanely displeased with something, or bored.

He fidgeted a bit, rocked back and forth on his heels, then proceeded to bite his lower lip, the three customary things Sonic did when he was trying to find a way out of something, Shadow would know. "Hm?" He mumbled, as if he had just heard Rouge, almost a minute later. "Why can't you do that?"

The black hedgehog quickly winced, he was glad he wasn't in this situation, but he felt a great deal of pity for Sonic, "Because! I'm talking to Amy, duh!" She thumped his forehead, which caused him to back away from her a few feet, putting him nearly at the door as they hadn't walked in very far.

The red-eyed hedgehog was going to pipe up and ask why they couldn't reverse it, but before he said it he realized what a dumb thing it would be to say, so he bit his tongue. "Why can't we let them figure this out themselves?" Rouge whirled to him, giving him a scornful look, causing him to recoil again. He didn't get the affairs of girls at all.

"That's not what I do. I don't let things fall into place, I put them into place." Sonic mumbled something under his breath, and she turned back to him, "What was that?" The blue hedgehog shook his head, signaling it was something he was going to definitely regret repeating to Rouge.

The bat woman put her hands on her hips and pouted her lips again, moving them over to the left side of her face. "_Sorry_, but this isn't really our forte." Sonic consoled, Shadow would have to remember to think him for using the term 'our' in that sentence.

"Of course not. But you're two of the only people that could get through to Tails, and I now Knuckles won't do it."

"Why does he get to be exempt and not us?" Shadow rose to his feet, his intention being to make some kind of a retreat when the next opportunity arose.

"Because you're closer to Tails." She rolled her eyes and didn't even seem to notice that the darker hedgehog had stood.

"I'm not..." He knew this was a mistake before he got to the n of not, but he couldn't stop or else she'd be questioning him on whether he was saying he was madly in love with Amy and was insanely jealous.

"Sonic is though!" Sonic squirmed a little a shot Shadow a hot glance for doing that to him. Shadow just smiled sympathetically. "I'm not asking you to do anything, but help me convince Sonic to do something! You said you agreed they'd be cute together!"

"What!" Shadow was taken aback, "I never said anything like that! I said that it would be interesting!" He protested, his motions signaling he was definitely not pleased with the proceedings.

"Oh, right... you just want Amy to get a boyfriend so she'll stop hanging on yours." Shadow stood back, his face tilting in a skeptical expression. This was somewhat true, but he was not about to admit it. He heard Sonic chuckle a little bit, and his cheeks flushed.

Through clenched teeth, and from the back of his throat he proceeded to refrain from screaming at Rouge, "Whatever." His voice was icy cold, it didn't have much of an effect since Rouge was used to hearing that kind of tone from him, especially since she loved to embarrass him in front of his blue mate.

Rouge turned to Sonic, a look of pleading growing in her eyes, he winced away from it, he hated that look from girls. "Sonic, just talk to him... you don't have to even convince him, not this time, anyway-..."

"What!" Sonic jumped, "This time? Even if I agreed to do it now there would be another time, hell no!"

This prompted a laugh from the embarrassed black hedgehog, "Okay look, me _and _Faker will try and talk to the fox, once. And if that doesn't work, you're on your own." Rouge turned again, Sonic was wondering if she was getting dizzy, and threw her arms around Shadow.

"Thank you so much!"

---

They walked home, close to each other, a sigh escaped Sonic, "Why did you have to agree to do that? I have no idea what to say to Tails." Shadow just smiled and threw his arm around his mate.

"Don't worry, I'm better at it than you... you should know that, I'll do most of the talking." Sonic looked at him somewhat skeptically, another look Shadow thought was absolutely adorable, Shadow was beginning to think maybe he just thought he was constantly that.

"You better." The black hedgehog smirked and nodded his head in agreement. He didn't know exactly what he intended to say to Tails, but it wasn't like Rouge had given them a deadline, so he had a while to plan it out before he barged into the fox's house and told him to go propose to Amy Rose this instant, though that might work if he said it demandingly enough. Come what may and hell to pay, he was going to get Amy Rose off his boyfriend and out of his life.

As much as Shadow enjoyed walking with Sonic, both of them preferred running, so that's always what ended up happening when they were just getting intimate, it drove Shadow as crazy as anything Sonic did. He loved to run, but he loved Sonic thousands of times more. After arriving back at their small apartment, and Sonic proudly boasting his beating Shadow. The darker hedgehog blamed it on some hole or another. The worst surprise either of them could have expect happened, when Sonic opened the door. There sat Amy, _Amy!_ The bane of Shadow's very existence, the green-eyed, pink-haired hedgehog that still made his skin crawl when Sonic was around. "_Amy_!" Sonic shrieked for him.

"What the hell are you doing here!" Shadow's voice burst into an angry, ice-stricken, furious yell. The pink hedgehog was struck with Shadow's comment more than Sonic's, because the blue hedgehog's just seemed like an unwanted surprise, which was what she expect. Shadow's sounded the devil was standing there in his very house.

"I, um, came by to talk to you guys..." She suddenly got nervous and the palms of her hands began to sweat. "About Tails..." Shadow's angry expression lightened, and a neutral expression came across his face, she almost thought he seemed pleased. Lately, Shadow had seemed to have a particular problem with her around Sonic, protectiveness of what was rightfully _his_, she was sure, and that burned like hell to know he was inclined to it. Not that it was needed, Sonic barely knew she was alive as of late.

"Tails?" Sonic's ears perked up as much as Shadow's expression lightened. "What about him?" Sonic had a teasing, curious? Amy couldn't figure it out, he had a tone to his voice, interested, was what it was.

"He's been... acting, oddly... lately. Nice. But odd." She looked away over at a picture of, no... it wasn't a picture just a frame, "Um, may I ask... _why _you have a frame with no picture in it on your wall?"

"What?" Shadow seemed a little confused at this comment, it was so abrupt and off-topic, "Oh... that..."

"We're guys, we don't exactly take a lot of pictures..." Sonic explained quickly. Amy smiled at the explanation, and nodded her head, "But about Tails. Odd how?"

"Nervous, maybe?" She looked at Shadow to see his reaction, knowing it would be smug as anything, since she knew exactly why Tails had been acting the way he had, she had come here merely to see if she could get a jealous reaction out of Sonic, which was a complete failure, like she knew it would be.

"Oh, really? A guy acting nervous. How _completely_ unreadable." A smirk came across his formerly irritated face. "Why did you really come here, Amy? To really ask that, you're a girl, you know."

"No, no I really don't." She blushed, it was obvious Shadow knew why she was there, right now, she was sure he wanted to snap her neck as badly as she wanted to snap his. Sonic, however, was completely oblivious.

"He likes you? Duh!" Sonic chimed it, and shooed away any remaining hopes that he might care the slightest that Tails was interested in her. He crossed his arms over his chest, and seemed to be thinking, Shadow was sure it was about whether or not to elaborate on what she thought of the two-tailed fox, or whether he even cared enough to bother.

Amy seemed to be blinking in confusion, even if she had known, which of course she had, it was odd to hear someone say this out loud. She tried to picture Tails and her... but her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the black hedgehog, "...what do you think of him?"

"I... I mean he's great!" She thought of how to word what she was trying to say, and fiddled with her dress. As she thought, Sonic tried to read the wild fire that seemed to be burning behind his mate's red eyes.

'_Oh, yeah, sure... I can't get over Sonic, but the moment another guy comes along I'm too good for other people? Ugh, are you kidding me? Not that it matters... but I'm just tired of her obsessing over Sonic, he's mine!" _Shadow's harsh thoughts surprised even himself, and the way he thought them was even weirder. His? He sounded like a crazy person, Sonic technically was his mate, well, was his. He had never gone so far as to think of it that way, but when in the face of Amy not getting lost, he had gotten crazy defensive.

"What's wrong with him?" Sonic was quick to question, he was determined to not only step on her heart but grind it with his burning shoes into the asphalt of rejection. She winced as if being physically struck.

"Nothing's _wrong _with him." Amy tried to think of it, but they weren't letting her. Maybe she was interested, no, this was just her trying to think of another way to make Sonic jealous. That's all it ever was.

"Oh, so little miss perfect is too _good_ for him?" Shadow's voice got the cold chill in it that it had when he first saw her in his house.

"No!" Amy gritted her teeth and glowered at him for pressuring her like this, "Haven't you ever... you can't pick who you love...like! Sonic likes you and not me, that doesn't mean anything is wrong with me or he's too good for me." Shadow seemed to take that in stride and stood down, a relaxed look coming over him, "He just... likes you better."

"Yes, but..." Tears were forming in her eyes and Shadow's soft side kicked in just in time to make him silence himself for hurting her anymore.

"And... and I like Sonic more! And I always will!" Tears began falling as she stormed past both of them and slammed the door angrily, sending a resounding boom sound throughout the entire room. Sonic looked at him, shook his head and sighed.

"That could have gone better..."

"A lot better."

---

"_And I always will!"_ The words pulsed through the dark hedgehog's mind like his own heartbeat. Sonic loved him and he knew that, and he loved Sonic more than Amy could even think to, he strongly believed that, but he couldn't bear the thought of that guilt hanging over him. He had basically stolen Sonic from Amy, though Sonic never liked her to begin with, Shadow had stepped and ruined any chance she ever had, no matter how small.

He stretched back on the couch, mumbling incoherently about Amy and Sonic, he was so deep in his thoughts he didn't even hear the door open. Then, still wasn't dragged out of Shadow land until the green-eyed hedgehog spoke up, "Hey, you ok?" Shadow blinked and suddenly looked up.

"Sonic!" Sonic just smiled at his surprise, and went on about his business, which seemed more roaming around looking for something to do than actually doing something. Shadow stood almost immediately, and smirk came over his face. His arm reached out and pulled Sonic into an unexpected embrace, not an unwanted one, obvious from the affectionate smile on his friend's face. He held him there for a moment.

This prompted a, "Shadow, is something wrong?" Out of his concerned mate, nothing was wrong anymore. So he just smirked and kissed Sonic quickly, released him and laughed.

"No, Faker... nothing's wrong." Sonic seemed pleased and bewildered, that was until the Faker comment register and he chose to pout about it. Shadow smiled and rolled his eyes affectionately. The darker hedgehog pulled Sonic's mildly resisting form even closer to him.

"Shadow..." He protested, almost inaudibly. Shadow just smirked, and slowly kissed his mate, soft and passionately. Sonic returned the kiss after a moment of receiving it with giddy pleasure, "Not now... someone might walk in and see." His eyes danced with desire and reluctancy. The confused face Shadow had come to adore. He whimpered softly and arched against Shadow's grasp.

"They'll get over it..." He said softly, his voice deep, dripping with desire. Sonic simply smiled and the slight resistence faded, Shadow smirked at the collapse of his reticency.

---

Tails sat quietly on his porch, lost in his own thoughts that he himself wasn't even sure of anymore. Amy danced through his mind, everything that had happened recently playing out in his spinning head like a Broadway musical. He looked down to the piece of white, clean paper in his hand. The pencil sat on the porch next to him, sharp as a nail, unused. "Amy..." He started, as if the pink hedgehog was standing before him now.

Unable to finish, he put the paper aside. Tears welled his sky blue eyes and he brought his arms up around himself, as if he were cold, he quivered with insecurity. His ear perked at the sound of a crunching autumn leaf. His eyes slowly turned in the direction, but before they reached their target, a gravelly voice reached his ears. "Tails!"

He blinked once, twice, then determined the source of the voice, "Knuckles..." His voice was a mumble, he wasn't quite sure he had said it after the fact. Knuckles reach him at last, tripping slightly on a rock and acting like it had been part of some act or another, as he stood before Tails, he cleared his throat. The echidna racked his brain for a beginning sentence, no luck.

"How's it going?" He mentally slapped himself, how absolutely retarded that had sounded! Tails managed what was so obviously a forced smile, even Knuckles noticed as much. "Not good? Something's wrong."

"It's nothing..." His voice trailed though, revealing that it was indeed something. Knuckles watched him closely for a few moments, but when he showed no sign of revealing anything, he simply sighed.

"Hey you two!" Something had prompted the girl, something about her last conversation and the utter agony that resided in her heart at this very moment, to go see Tails. The subject of her conversation with her beloved Sonic, and Shadow. She smiled sweetly, though, ignoring her own pain and strolled over to them.

She seemed unusually giddy, Tails thought, perhaps nervousness? Was there hope yet for a romance to be kindled? "Hello Amy!" Tails jumped up from his sitting position, now relieved he hadn't written anything on the paper and that Knuckles had shown up, otherwise he might have been reciting some love-professing mushy speech to her, as she approached.

Knuckles noticed how fast Tails had genuinely cheered up at the sight of Amy, so that's what had been bugging him. Rouge had mentioned something, and she always seemed to be dead on with this kind of stuff. "Is Cream with you?" He shot, his own thoughts taking a backseat to his fear of the cream-colored rabbit of death.

Amy giggled. "No."

Remembering Rouge's comments about the two, 'hooking up' as she put it, he decided to bolt, some strange excuse expelling from his mouth as he was already twenty miles in some unknown direction. Tails and Amy stood bewildered at his sudden departure. The pink hedgehog immediately felt extremely awkward. "So, what's up?" She turn to him finally, twirling and her dress flying a bit.

He smiled at her, the smile seemed creepy now that she knew he really did like her, "Nothing... just sitting here, thinking." Amy relaxed after this, the smile got less weird and she got less awkward, she smiled sweetly again.

"About what?"

"Different things." She smiled and laughed a little. Her hands shot down to her dress where she twirled the ends of it idly, staring at it as if it were some kind of an art form. Tails seemed equally as interested in what she was doing, but she didn't notice his stare. "Say, do you want to... take a walk?"

The sun was beginning to set, Amy thought for a moment. "Sure, that might be just what I need today!" She quickly smiled at him and linked her arm through his own. Somehow she ended up dragging him off on their walk, even though it was his suggestion. Amy had a tendency to take charge of situations, and Tails smiled as he realized maybe he had a reason for loving her.

They walked down a dirt road, Amy wasn't like too many girls and though she made a few comments about the brighter flowers, she didn't seem overly interested in the scene. Tails was however, there was no better place to be in love. It would have been all the sweeter had Amy returned is love. How he longed to take her in his arms, but with his luck, he'd probably sling her into him too hard and bust his chin open or something, he sighed at the thought. "It's beautiful." Not that thought, but the scenery was and the silence between them and overstayed its welcome.

"It is... so have you talked to Sonic or Shadow lately?" He was somewhat agitated at the mention of the blue hedgehog just as his romantic thoughts were about to take flight. Tails knew Sonic was his idle though, who he aspired to be like. At this point, Tails would have gladly taken just to be Sonic, since his current love interest was so interested in him.

Tails looked at the dirt, watching his feet as he walked, "No..." He wanted so badly to remind her that they were probably off somewhere making out, but he knew he didn't truly want to hurt her, just take her for his own. "Why do you ask?" This comment was far nicer than the one he had planned.

"Because I have." She said quickly. Tails was taken back by her immediate defense of herself when asked this question. He cocked his head slightly, assuming this would be enough so as to inquire an explanation. "Shadow's such a jerk!" Amy hissed through gritted teeth. Tails ears dropped a little, of course Shadow was a jerk, she was in love with Sonic.

His blue eyes averted to a purple and red sky for a moment, then came back to her, "What did he do now?" He tried to smile, or lighten the mood in a sense, "Besides, you hadn't figured that out yet? How long have we known Shadow now?" She returned the smile, to his immediate relief, even laughing ever so slightly.

"I don't know, he just-..."

"He's in love with Sonic, you know... it's not his fault he's protective." Tails found himself defending Shadow, or maybe he was just trying to kill what little hope she had left of ever getting the blue hedgehog back.

Tears began to burn in the hedgehog's eyes, she looked away, her teeth now gritted, "I wasn't finished!" Her voice has almost reached a yell. The small fox winced at her reaction to his unnecessary interruption. "It's not fair!" She broke down suddenly, "I could've... that stupid... he ruined everything!" She screamed and mumbled through her sobs. Tails finally took her in his arms and she wept against his chest.

"Amy..."

She drew back, not out of his arms, but pulled her face from his chest, to get a breath. "I want him back! What does Shadow have that I don't?" Tails could think of a few things. "And Sonic's so... in love with him too! I feel bad for still wanting him like this!"

"It's not your fault." Tails tried to keep his voice soft and gentle when inside his emotions were running wild. He wanted to come forward and tell the girl everything now. She had a right to know, and maybe he could get her on the rebound? She needed another guy right now. No! Why would he think like that? He didn't want a girl on the rebound. He wanted Amy.

She took ragged breaths for a moment, then finally calmed herself down, but to his utter amazement, her head fell back on his chest. Tails took the scene in, before it escaped him. The sunset, the girl of his dreams in his arms, the perfect scenery, it didn't get more perfect, well maybe if she were in his arms _not_ over another guy. "You're right! It's not... but it's not Shadow or Sonic's either. I just wish I could move on!"

"You will." He mumbled, wondering if maybe he should be telling him the same thing. He looked away, his blue eyes growing misty as one could almost say he was fighting back tears, but they weren't burning, the thought of crying merely crossed the threshold of his mind, and was quickly and quietly dismissed.

The small hedgehog turned away and walked a couple of feet, creating a distance between her and Tails. He didn't look back over to her, though he noticed she had walked away from him, he lost himself in his own melancholy thoughts. Amy finally looked back at him, when he didn't approach her after several minutes, the silence beating down on her. "I..." She began but she had no idea of what her original statement was going to be, so she stopped. He turned his head, curiously, at her sudden cut off.

"You?" Tails urged her on.

Amy smiled weakly, "I don't know. I hope I can, but I just..." She stopped again, looking down, hot tears burning fiercely at her green eyes.

Tails drew in a breath, thinking of what he could say. After moments of contemplation, he opened his mouth to speak, "Sonic is always going to be here for you, Amy..." Amy looked at him curiously. "He's always going to be your friend; Shadow may have stolen your love interest but he didn't steal your friend, he has no intention of doing that." Amy grumbled something incoherent. "What?"

"Shadow..." She gritted her teeth, "He gets mad whenever he sees me... like he doesn't want me around... at all." Tails smiled slightly at her, but made no attempt to close the distance between them. She would have to do that on her own.

"He's just being protective, you said it yourself, he can't help but be a little jealous. Amy, you're beautiful." He hid a slight blush by turning away, acting as if he were getting his words together again, "He just doesn't want to lose Sonic."

Amy smiled at him, "Thanks, Tails..." She took a deep breath, as if what she was about to say physically burned her throat, "Not like he has anything to worry about..." Tails eyed her wonderingly. "Sonic likes Shadow so much... he never had an interest in me to begin with." Tails bowed his head, and then shook it.

"Maybe he didn't." He confirmed, he couldn't lie to her. "But he does care about you, think of all the times he's saved you." Tails clenched his teeth, not angrily, but in hesitation, "And... Shadow... Shadow might know he has no threat from you, but he's just jealous when it comes to Sonic, he'll get over that."

"He's had awhile." Amy said somewhat crossly.

Tails laughed a little bit, genuinely, "I know he has, but... boys will be boys." Amy raised an eyebrow at him and he just laughed it off again, "But, you will move on, there are plenty of guys out there who would kill to be with you."

"Aww..." Amy said quietly, touched my Tails' words. She felt a tinge of something tug at her heart at that moment, she blinked and stared off into space. His 'beautiful' comment came back to her mind and her face flushed a bright red, and her cheeks grew hot as fire. "Wow..." She laughed a little, it cracking in complete nervousness.

Was the red in her cheeks? He didn't know what had prompted the blush, but Amy Rose was blushing, Tails almost whirled around to see if Sonic was standing somewhere around, but he was indeed not. Amy was blushing because of something Tails had said, whether it be having to do with Sonic or not, it was a step in the right direction. He pretended not to notice though, "Wow?" He stared at her.

"You're so sweet." She finished, finally erasing the redness from her cheeks, though her body temperature still seemed to have gone up a few degrees.

Tails turned his back and blushed himself, "I try."

---

Knuckles approached Rouge with the utmost of cautions, she had a bit of a scowl on her face, and didn't look very amiable on this particular day. He wondered if his news would cheer her up at all, he certainly hoped so, she looked as if she could murder. "Did you... fail something?" She glared at him, confirming that he had hit the nail on the head. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rouge." He looked away, somewhat stumped due to her angry mood, "I wanted to talk to you about... Tails and Amy." He said it, but he didn't believe he had actually spoken those words.

She lightened up, smirking at him, "_You,_ Knuckles? Are you sick?"

"No, seriously... I just had something to tell you..."

Rouge's anger subsided almost immediately, now he knew how to get her out of a bad mood, the only problem was he wasn't sure how often he could reduce himself to this, "Do tell."

Knuckles gestured, somewhat nervously, "They were together and Shadow told me Amy had talked to them about him... he said she didn't give any insinuation of liking him but she had noticed he liked her." Rouge seemed to be in thought, so he went on, "I went over to talk to Tails... and Amy showed up... I couldn't figure out why she'd wanna see Tails, but she did... then they went for a walk..."

Rouge seemed pleasantly surprised by this story, Knuckles was just relieved to stop sounding like a gossiping school girl. "I knew they were perfect for each other!" She sounded more enthusiastic than usual, actually, more enthusiastic than Knuckles thought her voice allowed.

"Yeah..." The echidna definitely lacked that enthusiasm.

Rouge smiled, "So did Shadow say anything else about what Amy had said?" Knuckles shook his head, thinking back to the conversation, Shadow had seemed a little uptight and unwilling to discuss it.

"_Shadow... hey." _After fourteen tries of no response, or maybe just five, Knuckles had grabbed the dazed hedgehog by the arm_. "I'm talking to you."_

"_Knuckles?" _He had seemed a little angry, no... annoyed, maybe... he was just in a sort of daze. _"What?"_

"_What's the matter with you?" _He had been curious, it wasn't normally like him to quiz Shadow about anything. They didn't talk much at all really, but he had looked really ... whatever it was. Knuckles figured it had to do with Sonic, so Shadow's initial answer, after twenty-billion 'nothings', shocked him.

"_I just talked to Amy... I hate that girl." _

"_What? Why? What did she do?" _Shadow's expression had gotten a little guilty at that point, and he murmured something inaudibly. It quit shocking Knuckles at this point, because he knew it did have to do with Sonic.

"_She came over and talked to us about Tails, but she'll never give up on Sonic... I swear..." _He gritted his teeth and cut himself short, he drew a calming breath, _"She noticed Tails likes her, but... she started crying over the Sonic thing... I've gotta go."_

"Well, he said Amy was still obsessed with Sonic." Rouge sighed heavily after this.

She drew her lips to one side of her face, "Well, that's a given, but it's high time she got over him... did Shadow seem upset?" Knuckles was absolutely positive Rouge could read minds, and he would not be convinced otherwise.

"Kinda."

She nodded, knowingly, like a complete and total mind-reader. She smiled at him, "Well, that made my day regardless, thanks Knuckles!" She hugged him and he got red and attempted to hug back by patting her. She rolled her eyes and began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" He took a breath, sometimes he thought the only reason she hung around him was to figure stuff out about Shadow and everyone else, no more information for her, he had gotten a hug though.

The bat shrugged her shoulders and smirked a little bit, "I don't know, I'll be back."

---

"Esp-izzly." Espio just stared at Vector, he couldn't even speak. He wasn't sure if he had actually been addressed as _that _or if Vector had finally flown off the handle. No, it didn't matter, he had flown off the handle either way.

"Excuse me?" He mumbled, quite traumatized after a moment.

Vector smiled proudly, Espio slowly began backing away before he even got the psychotic explanation, "I'm trying to be a ganster... it's the new cool thing."

"What - the - hell?" Espio stared blankly at him, then just flailed his arms about crazily, "How would you know what the 'new cool' thing is? We're stuck on A FUCKING SPACE COLONY! The only people around are you, me, Charmy and that weirdo malfunctioning robot that keeps running by! Better yet, why would you give a shit what the NEW cool thing is?"

Vector seemed to disregard any hostility Espio took towards him, "Oh, yeah! I named that robot Robizzle." Espio ran out of the room, screaming, and Vector wasn't sure, but what sounded like cursing Shadow. Then he hit a wall and fainted, probably his intent.

Charmy zipped into the room, smiling and creeping anyone, no wait... Vector was the only one in there, "Where's Espio? Maybe I think I found the way off this colony." Vector pointed in the direction Espio had run, then got offended.

"What! Why can't you tell me? What's the matter with me, just because I'm an alligator you don't think I can understand?" Charmy shook his head.

"No, it's kinda because you just called Espio, Espizzly."

Vector nodded his head understandingly, "I see. I think Espio knocked himself out on a wall again. He does that a lot, I think it's his way of saying he loves us."

"Really! He's so sweet!"

"I know!"

---

Amy yawned and sat up, she glanced at her clock at the time read 3 AM. She laid her head back down, knowing she wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. So many thoughts came streaming through her head when closed her eyes. "Sonic..." She mumbled, barely able to hear it herself. She looked to the window and her imagination created scary images, like the kinds you see in horror movies. She rolled away from it and breathed deeply, "My whole life revolved around you..."

The pink hedgehog thought of writing a letter, maybe pouring it out would help. Tears began forming and falling down her cheeks, again she wondered why she thought about him every night. She pulled the covers up over her body some more and random images, all with him in them, ran through her mind. Like every night, she tried many positions, searching for any way to find peace and get to sleep, but nothing worked. Finally, she decided to get up and see if writing would help.

She rummaged around for a bit, finding a note pad, which took longer than the red pen she found right beside her bed, she stared at the paper. It was blank, white, standing out boldly against the darkness of her room. Amy hadn't bothered to turn on the lights, or she hadn't thought about it. It was cold. She whirled back to her window at a sudden noise, but saw nothing but expanding earth when she did. She shivered and brought the pad and pen back down underneath the covers with her. Quietly, she murmured some words, but soon was displeased with them, wadded up the paper and threw it out from the covers.

After five minutes, another loud noise startled her, she hurried out from under the covers and stared out the window again, nothing. Was Sonic going to drive her to the point of absolute insanity?


End file.
